went on a camping trip and took my new sportrak gps. I thought this time i'd really be able to wonder off and explore the woods. I went with four cousins of mine and got to a nice camp site about 1:00 am. anyways we set up camp went to bed and woke up early the next morning. I set the camp site on the gps and went for a quick ride before breakfast. So we all got the bikes ready and took off. well about 1 1/2 hours into it we decided to head back so i turned on the gps and started heading towards where the gps said camp was. after about 1/2 hour we were within 3miles of camp, the thing was we had to cross a steep valley to get there. we tried going around it and had no luck, so we thought it would be best to go down and them back up. BIG mistake. it took us about 3 hours slowly winching each bike up with a sportsman that we had with us. Well after the first bike was completly up, i decided to take the bike and look for camp and bring back water, well after about a miles worth of riding the bike died, swithched on reserve and kept going. I read the gps to exactly where camp should of been, but saw nothing in sight, countinued looking around and still nothing. So runninig low on gas i went back and broke the news to everybody. We all left on the bikes and tried the gps again. And again nothing. Finally we followed a forrest road untill we ran into some campers asked for water, gas, and directions on getting to the ranger. anyways the point was that i depended on that gps and was really disappointed. Has anyone had this problem before. Accorrding to the manual the gps should be within 3 meters on accuracy.

 

Never trust your life or your safety on electronic equipment [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img].

 

Brand and model? There are recalls out there.

 

Ok first of all who makes the Sport trak? A couple of things you have to remember about a GPS, especially if you are in the mountains. Most good quality GPS's have track mode. Leave this on when you leave camp and when you are ready to come back you can actually follow your tracks back to camp. That is the safest and best way with a gps. Another thing is that a gps usually only works on a straight line basis so your camp is probably where it was but when you try and find it the odds are you are coming from a whole other direction. It will get you there but you may have to cross over some volcanoes or something to get there. Also another and probably the best thing to do is buy a Topography CD-Rom and download the are you are going to ride in. This provides you with incredibly accurate information on elevations, ravines, canyons, streams, rivers, mountains, trails and forrestry roads. Anyway now you are armed with some good info and you shouldn't have to many more problems in the future. Good luck.

 

magellan makes the sportrak map. It isn't the least expensive model, and it seemed to have what i was lookoing for in a gps unit. I knew about the track mode but knowing that the trip was going to be 3 days and a baterry life of about 12 hours I left it off. i do plan on buying the topography software eventually. that would of helped alot being that we camped near a forest road. I just don't understand why on the gps unit it said i was within 20 ft and i saw nothing. Also when we finally arrived at camp and looked at the unit it said i was like 300+ feet from camp? Some how it must of read wrong. I know when i first got it i had to initialize it and it said if i were to travel more than a certain amount i would have to redo this. I was only 3hrs from home(phoenix) and i've taken the unit with me to virginia 1800+ mile away, and it worked fine. Maybe the thickness of the forest gave it a bad reading or something. Anyway the main reason for the purchase was glamis, hopefully it works better out there in the open.

 

In Glamis all you have to remember is head north till younhit railroad tracks then turn left and you will run into the store.]

 

Trust me, there's a lot more to remember than just going north. Water, clothing, etc etc.

 

if it makes you feel any better last report navy seals don't use gps.

 

If you are going to trust your GPS to get you home, be sure to leave it on. Knowing ahead of time it only lasts 12 hours (are you sure about this? My Garmin GPS 12 which is over five years old lasts 24 on one set of batteries - I've inadvertantly tested it as well!) be sure to bring extra batteries. Like The Punisher said, any good GPS has track/backtrack mode which in forested areas is ideal. I have never had a problem with my GPS being off by much at all like you experienced with yours being 300' off. Perhaps when you marked camp the device allowed you to 'accidentally' change one of the numbers in the lat/long setting - putting it 300' off? I don't think I would loose faith in your GPS Magellin has been making GPS units for a long time, I'm sure they've got the basics down.

I guess next time check how well it has marked camp for you before you leave camp - if one of the digits got changed accidentally you'ed know it before you left and could correct the problem. Also I think a GPS is much easier to use in 'go to' mode in a riding area that allows omnidirectional near straight line navigation as the sand dunes allow you to do (for the most part.) Either way if you've got one of the cool mapping GPS units, you've got to get the topo maps of the area - those are cool features too good to pass up.

How is your GPS or anyone else's on elevation? My GPS 12 seems to wander a lot when it calculats elevation. If I watch the elevation long enough I can get a good idea of how high I am (no pun intended) however it certainly isn't a good enough fix to make one quick look and be done.

 

I got lost with my GPS. The batteries ran out and I ended up at the pub. At least thats what the wifw thinks[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]